And I'm not going to try them!
I could see these fungi growing on a Willow from yards away. Such a bright orange - more orange in real life than the photo...........and more orange the day before it rained all day too.
I had a closer look - not so attractive - looking very sticky on top.
We don't get a huge amount of fungi in this part of Suffolk - edible or otherwise - I think it's mainly too dry and we don't have the Beech woods or forests that many edible varieties prefer. At the smallholding we had some edible Field Mushrooms - until we rotated chickens around around the meadow, then they were never seen again. We also had Yellow Staining Mushrooms - slightly poisonous - and easy to tell what they were as any touching of the cap turned it yellow.
I had no idea of the name of these that had appeared on the Willow so looked in a book and I think they might be Golden Scalycap.
In many parts of the world foraging for edible mushrooms is a way of life - but I was very put off after a professionally led Fungi Foray on the heathlands near the smallholding, when we were told of all the Fungi experts who had died after making a mistake and eating the wrong ones!
What I'd love to find would be a nice white Puffball - no mistaking them for anything else.
(Thank you for all the advice yesterday - there's no chance of me drinking all 4 cans. When you don't drink at all even half a glass of 5% cider is pretty potent! and just in case you thought I was being serious, I didn't really end up flat out on the floor!)
Back Tomorrow
Sue
I love mushrooms but would never pick them from the wild but saying that I do love to see them in the hedgerows.
ReplyDeleteMy Carol got my shopping yesterday so the fridge/freezer is full up now and she stayed and had a cuppa for while. It's pouring of rain this morning and I have the chiropractor nurse here this morning.
Hope everyone has a god day.
Hazel c uk 🌈🌈🌈
Hope all went well for you today. Quite gloomy here all day
DeleteI enjoy looking at different fungi and marvel at the shapes and colour and remember the nature table at school which we would gather different ones for. Apart from that I leave all gathering for eating to the experts . I would never risk eating a mushroom I had found! My mother always told us the story of the girl guides who ate mushrooms they found in a field on a picnic and died in the 1950s. That was enough to put me off for life.
ReplyDeleteApart from horse/field mushrooms I've tried puffball but nothing else - too risky.
DeleteI used to get puffballs in my old garden. They were very impressive but even so, I never dared eat them.
ReplyDeleteThey are really good to eat - unmistakable for anything poisonous
DeleteWhen I am eating my breakfast banana, I have often thought that someone way back at the beginning of time would have taken a bite of all the edibles grown in the wild. Unless he, the hunter, had company how could the message be passed on to others that it was poisonous? We have to thank these ancients for discovering the edibles and non-edibles and paying the price with their lives.
ReplyDeleteVery true
DeleteI am almost glad that I don't like mushrooms, no temptation to pick a free meal and perhaps poison myself in the process.
ReplyDeleteWasn't there a case of a famous person foraging for mushrooms for a dinner party, and although not actually killing his guests he did cause some of them to be really ill and a couple of them were left with long term kidney damage as a result of his meal.
There are plenty of places in Wales for mushrooms. Have you ever read Urban Dreams and Rural Realities? by Bel Crewe and her husband Daniel something
DeleteYes I used to have a copy of that when we first started out in the country.
DeleteIt's frustrating to leave what could be perfectly delicious fungi in the grass but really not worth the risk. They are very attractive in their own way, aren't they?
ReplyDeletexx
Before the days of rain they were so bright Orange - never seen them before so it was interesting
DeleteIt's a slow, painful and irreversible death if you eat the wrong mushroom.
ReplyDeleteSounds horrible
DeleteI've always been under the impression that the more colourful, the more deadly. But I wouldn't eat any fungus that I found. I'll stick to blackberries for foraged food! xx
ReplyDeleteNot always - one of the most deadly is similar to a normal white mushroom!
DeleteI saw some wonderful fungi in the woods and posted on the local facebook group. Several people said it was something called Chicken of the Woods and it was edible. Next time I went to look somebody had cut it all off! There was so much of it and it was so pretty. It seemed a little sad that all of it had been taken!
ReplyDeleteThat's a good edible one although I've not tried it. Foraging etiquette says you should always leave some!
DeleteI wouldn't touch those orange fungi with a barge pole Sue.
ReplyDeleteI agree - they looked sticky and nasty
DeleteI love mushrooms but mind definitely have to come in a carton from the supermarket! Just reading back over your blog and I don't think you've any need to worry about becoming an alcoholic just yet lol. Hope you're keeping well and are still able to see the family one way or another. xx
ReplyDeleteThank you - yes I'm well, keeping busy and definitely Not drinking too much cider!
DeleteHere in the usa we have Morel mushrooms that look like sponges stuck on a mushroom stem. There are spongelike holes all over them. No other mushrooms that are around here look like them. They are absolutely delicious! The sponge looking holes are actually holes in the mushroom not just a pattern on the outside that looks like a hole from a distance.
ReplyDeleteIn our neighborhood just a couple of weeks ago several of the yards had multiple hens of the woods in their yards that looked to be growing along rootlines of trees. One yard had a enough for a whole chickenyard of hens of the woods. I have always been afraid to try them, because my Mom never harvested and picked them, so I suppose my Grandpa must not have either, so maybe there are poisonous immitators
It's just too dangerous to pick any old mushroom and cook it up and eat it..